Another High Level East-Ukraine Resignation: Leader Of East Ukraine Rebels Strelkov Quits As Defence Minister

Yesterday the market soared (and then forgot to correct) following fake news (subsequently rejected) that the leader of the east Ukraine rebels, Igor Strelkov, has been seriously wounded. It took minutes for the correct story to come out (he was ok), but now a follow up report indicates that something is indeed afoot in the Donetsk People's Republic, where moments ago, RIA (the infamous Russian news agency which set off Friday's market surge with its "deescalation" tweet) reported that Strelkov has resigned from his official post as Defence Minister of the breakaway republic.

The commander of the militia, the defense minister of breakaway People's Republic of Donetsk (DNI) Igor Strelkov resigned in connection with his transfer to another job, reported the press center of the DNI.

"At today's meeting, the Council of Ministers granted the request for dismissal from the post of Minister of Defense for Colonel Igor Strelkov in connection with his transfer to another job," - said in a statement.

In connection with Strelkov's resignation, Vladimir Kononov was appointed as the new Minister of Defence and tomorrow his candidature will be approved. The Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Alexander Zaharchenko, told that Strelkov will do other "important work."

It would appear that a big shift is coming to the strategic positioning of the breakaway region. For now it is unclear just what said change is, but the confluence of events, including the Russian humanitarian convoy and the top leadership resignations are more likely than not connected.

I get the feeling this convey will get attacked once in Ukraine (either by the Uks themselves or a False Flag) and then the paratroopers come in.

I doubt the Russians would hide weapons and ammo inside the bags of grain and the sleeping bags -- I wonder how much ammo you could hide within the various compartments of these trucks. White is easily visible from the sky, and would make great targets for paratroopers to aim for.

"Look everyone, we set up a grain distribution center in the middle of this field with no power lines, trees or telephone poles."

Eastern Ukraine is just a story for Putin to get the attention away from Crimea. At a certain point Putin will trade in peace in Eastern Ukraine for a recognition of the annextion of Crimea. Till then he´ll keep the conflict cooking, sometimes more sometimes less. When winter comes and the US election he will get his will.

No, Banderastan is far from winning this one. I cannot describe how f'd up the situation is in Novorossiya right now, but the breaking news is that the resistance has repelled Banderastanites offensive...

I confirm this. I have friends in Ukraine and they are actively battling the regime, sabotaging infrastructure utilized by the military. Occasionally the resistance packed a captured and eliminated. They simply disappear without a trace. Nobody knows whether those people go to jail or are executed.

Railroads are dismantled and rebuilt, dismantled and rebuilt. Powerlines taken down and rewired. It's happening over and over. Acts of sabotage going on all throughout the Ukraine, with some waging deliberate battles and others simply scavenging and looting. The country is in chaos.

IMF money reaches no one. Maybe the top echelons get a few bribes - fractions of the stated sums, but nobody else has any actual money. The loans are all implicit - existing as deposits in foreign banks. Promises upon promises. If you do this, then maybe we'll do that.

The only things actually entering the country are military equipment - used NATO gear to arm soon-to-defect militants. Just like Afghan and Iraqui police forces, Ukes simply aren't trusted to deliver the Western will. All the "good stuff" is segregated in hands of CIA and NATO operatives hiding out in Western Ukraine in makeshift training camps. To minimize risk of discovery, the NATO block prefers managing operations from neighboring countries such as Poland and Finland.

They can't afford to have any more US, UK and Israel made drones falling into the Russian hands.

So, the result is - still underequipped Ukrainian army is forced to shell victims from a safe distance, only engaging close range with an equivalent of sling-shots. The kinds of obsolete weapons that maks Western involvement. That's why they seem to have success at driving resistance away during bombing raids, yet as soona s they put boots on the ground, they're surrounded, captured and eventually defect over to Russia.

Ukes have the potential of eliminating the treat rapidly, but only with tanks and planes driven by the same people who supplied them, but that would be very difficult to put a positive spin on, like the Maidan video of a self-proclaimed "American Citizen" in riot gear being beaten. The West decided to have none of that.

It has to look like a Russia-Ukraine conflict and nothing else. The puppeteer hand is out of the picture, but the strings remain.

The West needs to provoke Russia, in order to justify their own intrusion - supposedly letting themselves enter the country (in actuality revealing units that are already there). They're armed and ready for war, but the propaganda machine ain't jiving. Those pesky Russians are pulling all the same tricks and Ukes are makign way too many mistakes.

It's like the war in Syria that failed to ignite and drive ISIS into Iraq instead. Things aren't going according to plan.

Even if Ukraine "wins" it'll be completely different from the kind of outcome they desired.

The West doesn't want restoration of order, as that would mean a lost opportunity of pulling Russia into a full blown war. They want Russia in Ukraine. They want a reason to have an official presense there, instead of a bankrupt nation with the gas cut off. They want a better deal, which is war. They don't want Ukraine.

Let's be honest - nobody wants Ukraine. Not even Putin. If he did, he'd have recognized Eastern referendums from the get go. He did not, in sharp contrast to Crimea. Nobody wants Ukraine. Putin wants to end the petrodollar and the West wants Russian land, Russian oil and Russian gas. That's it. No other goals. Nothing else.

Thanks for the update. Very sad. The west is so evil in what they have done to the Ukraine. I have great respect for the Ukrainian people fighting against this like the Syrians fighting these gangsters.

I was a part of one online community existing for years prior to Maidan. The most members were Ukrainians and Russians. The forum was founded by a Ukrainian. We were all friend right until the coup. Then all of the sudden people turned on eachother. Most of them weren't even Ukrainain or Russian residents - mostly US / Canadian immigrants. The forum fell apart in just a few months and was eventually shut down.

People not involved in fighting, not even residing in any of the conflict regions were swayed into confrontation for no reason whatsoever. Friends yesterday and enemies the next day. It was painful to observe.

The internet is now an active battleground. Monkeys throwing feces at eachother. Victims of propaganda.

Even in real life - I have friends of Russian and Ukrainian descent who no longer speak to eachother for no reason other the staged conflict happening half a planet away - other than the stuff on television.

Yes, because obviously all Ukrainians should be ecstatic that their "lawful" politicians have sold them out to US/EU masters, and should welcome peacefully, joyfully and with open arms all the "lawful" brutality and coercion that these "lawful" politicians send their way, like "your friend" the rabid felon.

What a sick post from a sick person, representing the disgusting and putrefied culture and society of Western Ukraine. Leave it to a pro-Bandera to make impotent online threats instead of engaging in facts.

This operation is really not going the way the US expected. It should have been over in a month if it had gone the way the Ukies told them it would. But people fighting for their own land can put up a hell of a fight.

Pity the US didn't learn the lessons of its past few escapades. Shows I suppose how desperate they really are but they are giving Russia a possible PR coup on a plate on many levels. The MSM in the West may not carry much about it but one suspects that the West does not matter to Putin, he is after the rest of the world and their leaders. The message will be, look what the US and the West are now resorting to. You can trust Russia, just see our actions over the past 10 years.

Now, instead of Russia being drawn into a drawn out guerilla war it will be UNATO.

One day someone is going to publish before/after aerial photos of Luhansk and Donansk, just like Gaza. These are huge cities. Then they will compare it to US/UK bombing of Germany. And Germany is backing Ukraine!!!

This Republic Ken is just another stupid Ukie troll, that has nothing useful to offer other than stupid rants. The best part is that even when they think they are winning, they are losing. Bet on it Ukie- Ken, the western banksters are going to give your Ukraine a world class ass fucking.

He would appear to be in Russia right now... There has been some interesting musical chairs going on the last couple weeks, the peaceniks on balance would appear to be losing chairs, but can the oligarchs cut an (anti-Kiev) deal that would be acceptable to the Ministry of Defense and the FSB?

Better figure something (BIG) will happen tonight or tomorrow AM in Ukraine before even Europe opens.

Too many trucks and many half full. Wonder if the stop in Voronezh was to load stuff not exactly on the manifests.

Could be lots of extra stuff for the paratroopers to use that they won't have to airdrop with. Anybody old enough to remember the Tet Offensive where the ammunition had been pre-positioned in clay burial urns so that they could just break them in the battle area and not have to carry it in. Yup, Trojan Horse (and I don't mean condoms).

Apparently Putin does not need Ukraine ------ he can not print dollars. Perhaps strategy is for West to drown in debt or see oil and gas prices go stratospheric. On other hand he may not have a strategy which is driving rebel leaders to abandon ship

He is a serving Russian army officer with Russian citizenship and passport ordinarily resident in Moscow. He had to go because his being there made it obvious that the so-called uprising is really just a Russian invasion. They need to put some more ""Ukrainian" face on it.

Agree Absalon, Strelkov and to lesser extent Borodai organized the defence and somewhat unified them, dug in for the seige of Slavyansk prepared for the seige of Donetsk and began the process of organizing the militias into dynamic mobile forces that could attack the enemy's weak points and defend key towns. For whatever comes next they require a different skill set and personalities, this would be my guess. What comes next though...

It's no secret the russian allied militias are getting spanked in donetsk.

and this is precisely where the humanitarium convoy is headed.

here's what's peculiar about the whole thing.

russia sent 280 trucks. logistics and cost to complete this will be high.

however, the russians could have easily used the railway system to transport the same goods directly to donetsk.

there's a train from rostov (that runs along the sea of azov) in russia that passes through taganrog up to donetsk. there's also trains out of gukovo and chebotowka (both cities right along the border)

Any one of these train routes would have been faster, easier and cheaper.

so why 280 military truck convoy?

me thinks shootin putin will make the trojan horse of the greeks look like sea horse.

Trains have to stay on the tracks... so they are very easy to stop, and trains can only deliver to certain locations (along the tracks), which limits operational flexibility. Then there is the PR value of a convoy of trucks on public roads...

First, anyone using the term "Bandera"-whatever to describe the people in the central and western parts of Ukraine, is an idiot or a shill. There is no significant amount of neo-Nazis, etc. (which is supposed to trigger an automatic fear response) anywhere. As far as casual racism (like against blacks), all Ukrainians and Russians have those views, and geographic location within Ukraine doesn't matter.

Second, any person using "junta" to describe the Ukr. government is a shill or an idiot. Yes, Yanukovich was booted out - but the rest of the elected representatives, are still in their version of parliament, and they had elections and a new guy was elected.

Third, anyone claiming the Zionists are only involved in one side and Putin is Zionist-free, is a fool. Zionists are intimately connected on both sides... who do you think was behind Bolshevism, anyways? And Putin has had plenty of involvement with the Jewish community, starting from when he was a junior politician in St. Petersburg.

On the Russian side of the debate, the Russians have been lied to and treated like crap by the West.

Ukraine was supposed to be a buffer zone, and Nudelman and the neo-con/Zionist axis in the US government are engaged in bear-baiting, which is very stupid. Read up on "Heartland Theory" and Zbigniew Brzezinski (spit) and his modern take on it, and you will understand why the Russians are understandably very sensitive about what is going on.

All this back biting, just shows how easily people are distracted - because the real issue always was, is now, and will be in the future, the corruption at every level of Ukraine society and politics, and the dim view many, have that things will get better for their kids. And you don't troops on the border, or to beef up the Ukraine military, to fix the corruption.

Here is a clip of Ukrainian Svoboda Party Member of Parliament Irnya Farion addressing a kindergarten class in Lviv Ukraine recently (subtitled to English). She is also minister of Science and Education. Watch the clip and come back tell me/us that she is anything but a Nazi (Bandera was also a Nazi). While she doesn't speak for all Ukrainians she certainly speaks for the Ukrainian government.

She speaks for the Ukrainian government as much as (Colonel) Zhirinovsky did when he was a member of the Duma.

I'd say it's "horrible", but my kid has an english name, and at his RUSSIAN school, they make his name into something like Alehfred, even though it's really "Alfred", and even has one letter missing, and would be easier to spell phonetically.

Besides, if you look in the classroom, there is an ethnically-dressed woman, which means it was some kind of "kultura dyon" or culture day...

And those "Nazis" all over europe won't let someone get their names in their passports in their native-born Chinese or Hindi script!

Basicly, those so called "pro-russian rebels" doesn't have local residents support, people want them to leave back to Russia from where they came. And so this one of rebels calling back to Moscow to plan how they leave this place and start seperatism in another atempt later. Because - now it's all matter of time - less than month and Ukraine army will win them. They are surrounded. So they are planing to back of and repeat this occupation with different approuch. They say that have made contacts to use those people later on to organize teror attacks, sabotage, etc. so that is what they will do after leaving that place.

Strelkov is the biggest potential political threat to Putin and now it appears someone may have tried to kill him yesterday and today he quits.

He has limited choices he can go back to Russia and bring the maidan movement with him, or he can go back quietly and be found dead withing a few months from polonium poisoning, the last choice is to flee to the west and seek asylum.